Meh... I don't like Lebron going back to Cleveland BUT this whole "loyalty" nonsense is ridiculous. NBA is a business. Owners and franchises generate millions, sometimes billions of dollars at a players' expense. Lebron isn't even the fifth highest paid player in the NBA right now! Why should marquee players feel enslaved to a team because of bullshit like "loyalty" when the teams are not inherently loyal to the players?? Further, this is the 21st century, it isn't the 1980s.. Its a different NBA because of CBA agreements, teams can't afford to be loyal, so why should players?

Tim Duncan stayed in San Antonio not because he is "loyal" but because that is his personality. He is shy and socially awkward, he doesn't like media, he doesn't like the spotlight, and the Spurs fit that bill perfectly, because nobody in the spotlight likes the spurs.

Since lunch, the Heat's twitter account has lost over a half-million followers.

Goodbye Jeremy Lin......lots of t's to cross and i's to dot, but the Rockets starting five this coming season could be: Beverly, Harden, Parsons, Bosh & Howard.

Two years ago after the Rockets drafted Royce White, Jeremy Lamb, and Terrence Jones, I thought they were headed to an awful 15 or 20 win season. Two years later, the Houston Rockets are now a marquee landing spot.

In Morey We Trust!

The Loyalty greater than Royalty billboard started popping up around San Antonio the day after LeBron opted out of his contract with Miami. Real recognizes real and the truth hurts......

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A Friend Of The Devil Is A Friend Of Mine
If I Get Home Before Daylight
I Just Might Get Some Sleep Tonight - GD

The Loyalty greater than Royalty billboard started popping up around San Antonio the day after LeBron opted out of his contract with Miami. Real recognizes real and the truth hurts......

But that is the thing yo, that is NOT real, "loyalty" is some kind of either neurotic NBA fantasy at best or worst,a manipulative ploy for owners and franchises to fleece players of their money, period, end of discussion.

The 2011 CBA was entirely designed to gut teams ability to retain their best players, period. IT destroyed loyalty, not Lebron. The 2011 CBA made it harder for teams to afford to keep players, it lessened the length of both rookie and max-offer contracts by as much as THREE years, and it changed the entire structure of things like "Bird rights" and the like, making it essentially impossible for teams to keep the band together unless they take huge pay cuts.

In reality the Spurs are not anymore "loyal" to their players as any other team, and the players aren't "loyal" than any others, they just happened to get the right deal. In the end, only about 25 players out of about 4,000 (!!!!) have played on only one team, and Jordan/Pippen aren't one of them

Yeah, props to Tim Duncan, especially to Kobe Bryant, for being the ultimate outliers... BUT THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE.. EXCEPTIONS to the rule, not the rule itself. "Loyalty" is a myth, and its a dangerous one for fans to get enraptures in. It creates false narratives and muddies up the reality of the harsh business that is the NBA..

Two years ago after the Rockets drafted Royce White, Jeremy Lamb, and Terrence Jones, I thought they were headed to an awful 15 or 20 win season. Two years later, the Houston Rockets are now a marquee landing spot.
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Here is the irony, you're talking shit about loyalty, then celebrating a team that is the product of disloyalty, whether the Thunder betraying James Harden or Dwight Howard betraying Magic/Lakers.. and now Lebron betraying Bosh.

The tHUNDER knew Harden is a chucker, and got rid of him ASAP. he does not play defense.

That is true, and indeed they became an almost defense first team since he left so clearly that was part of their plan all along BUT lets not kid ourselves, even with bad defense James Harden is probably in the NBA top-10 right now, period. My bias, I always liked The Beard since his rookie year so I might just be sipping the kool-aid..

I like what Grantland mentioned, that in part, Lebron demanding max-money was similar to what Kobe did. While it seemingly sabotaged roster flexibility it sent a powerful message to the owners and franchises. It was literally embarrassing that the undisputed best player in the NBA was not even the 5th best paid player.. EVERYBODY and THEIR MAMA thought Lebron should be like Tim/Tony/Manu and take less money to keep the band together. However Lebron is different, Tony and Manu aren't in anyway the best players in the NBA, and Tim is five years past his prime... so those guys taking pay cuts is LOGICAL, its part of business strategy. The Lebrons of the NBA aren't supposed to do that, it hurts the business side of it. It hurts ALL the players, because now the NBA assumes ALL of them will take pay cuts. BULLSHIT.

The 2011 Lockout was about Owners trying to take revenue shares AWAY from players.. They succeeded in this. Raising the luxury tax was STUPID, it was shooting any team in the foot. The Nets lost over $140,000,000 last year. THAT IS FUCKING INSANE!!!

Lebron, Kobe, now Bosh and probably Melo taking the max deals is the best strategy for the future of the PLAYERS, because now it tells franchises in a powerfully visible way, "Fuck y'all and your pay cuts, pay the players."

In that regard, I totally respect that. I can't help it. I work Union, fuck the boss, fuck the company, pay the workers. If the NBA players as Union labor feel like this is their best negotiating tactic, and if they feel it empowers the players over the owners great. I only hope it sets an example to ALL the employees of the NBA, from the ticket stalls to the janitors, security to the training staff. Fuck that, this is a multi-BILLION dollar industry, NOBODY deserves to be broke here

It was literally embarrassing that the undisputed best player in the NBA was not even the 5th best paid player..

The Lebrons of the NBA aren't supposed to do that, it hurts the business side of it. It hurts ALL the players, because now the NBA assumes ALL of them will take pay cuts.

There is NOTHING embarrassing about not being one of the Top Five paid players in the league......especially when you consider LeBron has never played in a Top Five Market. Truth is, in his entire NBA career, LeBron HAS NEVER even been the highest paid player on his team......NEVER!

Because of this, LeBron has only maid $490 million in carrier earnings......truly no good reason to start demanding the max now!

__________________

אש זרה

A Friend Of The Devil Is A Friend Of Mine
If I Get Home Before Daylight
I Just Might Get Some Sleep Tonight - GD